Alan is a pretty fair birdwatcher, not the tromp-the-woods-with-binocs type, but the keep-backyard-feeders-and-notice-who-comes by sort. A couple years ago, after not seeing any nearby, we started spotting the occasional oriole.
Orioles, with their bright plumage, are worth welcoming back. But it was only a glimpse; Alan rushed out to buy a oriole feeder, but subsequent sightings were rare. Our little microclimate has been invaded by red-winged blackbirds, which is like having a meth family move in, and we figured they were keeping the orioles away.
This year, huzzah, the orioles returned, so we got the feeder out of the garage, loaded it up — with oranges and grape jelly, if you’re unfamiliar — and soon they were stopping by on the regular, along with other species that apparently enjoy high fructose corn syrup and fruit that grows nowhere near their native habitat, primarily sparrows and robins. Along with another freeloader:
GODDAMN FUCKING SQUIRRELS is something I hear often these days. The ubiquitous critters are very good at finding free food, and figured out how to access the orioles’ chow in about 15 minutes. This necessitated, first, the purchase of a ridiculous squirt gun, sort of a large syringe, that can shoot a few dozen feet. The problem is the squirrels are faster than the gun, and the best Alan’s been able to do is dampen a few. I think for an animal that lives outdoors, a juicy orange quarter is worth a wet coat.
So now he’s experimenting with relocating the feeder. It’s sharing space with the hummingbird feeder now, another desirable species we want to keep happy. It’s an ongoing process. I’ll keep you posted.
Another pleasant weekend. The weather’s been in the 70s, with at least some sunshine every day, and this is, to me, the very best summer. So I’m getting out when I can, which is often. Nothing like a spritz in the back yard at the end of the day.
Of course I followed the saga of the Reflecting Pool over the weekend, too. Don’t worry, Judge Janine is on the case!
Also, farewell to Alan Greenspan and Clive Davis. Happy Monday to all the rest of you.
Mark S Stryker said on June 22, 2026 at 12:36 pm
And farewell to Mark Singer, one of the best our game has to offer.
Obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/obituaries/mark-singer-dead.html
A quintessential Singer profile: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/ricky-jay-magician-secrets-profile
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Jeff Gill said on June 22, 2026 at 1:56 pm
Ian Bremmer reminds us that Greenspan got Ayn Rand into the Oval Office for his swearing in as chair for the Council of Economic Advisers under Gerald Ford.
https://x.com/ianbremmer/status/2069062989605466492
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Mark P said on June 22, 2026 at 3:57 pm
My father’s mother and step father lived in an old house in an old residential neighborhood not far from Broad Street in Rome, Ga. They had some huge pecan trees in their back yard, some of which I think may have survived to this day. My father’s step father would sit in their back yard with a .22 rifle, which he would use to shoot the squirrels that were trying to eat his pecans.
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nancy said on June 22, 2026 at 3:58 pm
Mark Singer wrote one of the weirdest NYer stories I read in recent years, about a guy who was trying to run a marathon in every state, kept a website touting his effort, and it turned out he was making up the races — complete with websites with fictional competitors and times. A great one.
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tajalli said on June 22, 2026 at 4:45 pm
When arresting the algae for provoking corrosive derision, be sure to read them their rights.
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alex said on June 22, 2026 at 5:05 pm
The biggest pests we seem to be dealing with this year are raccoons. They keep stealing our cat’s big stainless steel water bowl and hiding it in the bushes. They also keep breaking into our electric cat food dispenser, which had been anchored to a huge cement block with a ratchet strap. They figured out how to get the strap off and empty the canister. They also decided to empty a large garden urn full of new potting soil and snapdragons, only God knows why. The rest of the plants are undisturbed.
So I took delivery of my new zero-turn mower with zero experience driving one, and I guess there’s a bit of a learning curve. It has what you might call a couple of joysticks to guide it around and these also function as both accelerator and brake. So I took out some plants today without meaning to do so but at least I’m getting the hang of it. The yard otherwise looks gorgeous.
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Julie Robinson said on June 22, 2026 at 7:29 pm
The Great Squirrel Squirmishes brought me a chuckle, but really, has anyone ever stopped squirrels from bird feeders? Eventually I came to enjoy them as much as birds, and credit their antics for keeping me sane through Covid times.
Here I see butterflies every time I look out front, attracted by all the pollinators we’ve planted. Normally it’s just monarchs, but in the last week I’ve seen a Zebra Swallowtail, White Sulphur, Gulf Fritillary, and two Black Swallowtails, wings delicately edged in blue. I’ve no descriptors for the joy the butterflies give me; each time I see one my breath catches, and my eyes and mouth both say “Oh”! involuntarily. They flit, landing for just a moment, then flit again. My heart flits right along.
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Jeff Gill said on June 22, 2026 at 8:29 pm
On Mark Singer, and his 1993 Ricky Jay piece, the opening is worth sharing:
The playwright David Mamet and the theatre director Gregory Mosher affirm that some years ago, late one night in the bar of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago, this happened:
Ricky Jay, who is perhaps the most gifted sleight-of-hand artist alive, was performing magic with a deck of cards. Also present was a friend of Mamet and Mosher’s named Christ Nogulich, the director of food and beverage at the hotel.
After twenty minutes of disbelief-suspending manipulations, Jay spread the deck face up on the bar counter and asked Nogulich to concentrate on a specific card but not to reveal it. Jay then assembled the deck face down, shuffled, cut it into two piles, and asked Nogulich to point to one of the piles and name his card.
“Three of clubs,” Nogulich said, and he was then instructed to turn over the top card.
He turned over the three of clubs.
Mosher, in what could be interpreted as a passive-aggressive act, quietly announced, “Ricky, you know, I also concentrated on a card.”
After an interval of silence, Jay said, “That’s interesting, Gregory, but I only do this for one person at a time.”
Mosher persisted: “Well, Ricky, I really was thinking of a card.”
Jay paused, frowned, stared at Mosher, and said, “This is a distinct change of procedure.” A longer pause. “All right—what was the card?”
“Two of spades.”
Jay nodded, and gestured toward the other pile, and Mosher turned over its top card.
The deuce of spades.
A small riot ensued.
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jim said on June 22, 2026 at 8:31 pm
Squirrels cannot be stopped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4YthEm5qIk
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jim said on June 22, 2026 at 8:36 pm
Sorry for a double squirrel, but this squirrel ninja course is my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg
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Jason T. said on June 22, 2026 at 11:18 pm
The subject of Mark Singer’s marathon runner story has apparently passed away. His obituary mentions that he was an “elite marathoner” who “complet(ed) eight Boston Marathons,” so apparently he stuck to his story to the end:
https://www.desmondfuneralhome.com/obituaries/David-Kipling-Kip-Litton-DDS?obId=40161631
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alex said on June 23, 2026 at 7:43 am
I have a squirrel-proof feeder that actually works. It used to be a lot of fun watching the squirrels getting themselves flung off of it until they’d finally give up. I haven’t been using it lately, however, because it attracts prey for the cat and I don’t like watching murder.
No luck finding a link or a video for the product or I’d post it. I found the item in a hardware store in Madison, Indiana, about 20 years ago. In order for it to work, it has to be suspended from above and it spins if anything heavier than birds lands on it. I’m surprised that it hasn’t become the gold standard in the marketplace but I’m not seeing it anywhere. There’s a green metal Audubon bird feeder that looks quite similar.
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Icarus said on June 23, 2026 at 10:01 am
I remember that story for the dentist who created fake marathons. I think he actually had the ability to qualify Boston on his own merit. He was just making fake marathon so that he could complete his goal of hitting every state or maybe he wanted to post faster times than he could conceivably do.
We have been in Grosse Pointe since Saturday. Had a nice steak dinner for Father’s Day. Yesterday was kind of running some errands and then we met some friends for dinner. Today we’re going to some amusement park.
We are leaving tomorrow for Chicago.
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Little Bird said on June 23, 2026 at 12:16 pm
When I was a young teen my dad had a vendetta against the squirrels in our neighborhood. They were getting in our attic and chewing on our wiring (ostensibly). He got a pellet gun since we lived in the city and firing something bigger might bring the cops out. He wasn’t the best shot, but the squirrels came in such numbers that eventually his “squirrel count” was over 200. And our outgoing message on our answering machine was the squirrel count is_______” which confused the hell out of many many people who called.
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David C said on June 23, 2026 at 1:36 pm
The little buggers do chew wires. Last time I was at the Subaru dealer getting an oil change there were two customers getting wire harnesses replaced because squirrels chewed through them.
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alex said on June 23, 2026 at 2:39 pm
They also chew through the plastic that houses the fuel system evaporator above the gas tank. I had to have it repaired on one of my vehicles and I’m about to take in another which has the check engine light going and is giving the same diagnosis codes, PO 441 and PO 455. Those sonsabitches are on my last nerve.
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Julie Robinson said on June 23, 2026 at 3:29 pm
At our last house the squirrels chewed through the phone/internet wires every couple of years. When we got high-speed internet they installed the line in a different place and it didn’t happen again.
I’m too kind-hearted to contemplate any action that would hurt them. Violence gives my soul pain.
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Sherri said on June 23, 2026 at 5:09 pm
Remember RealPage, the AI collusion software for landlords? Gas station operators have their own AI collusion software, Kalibrate. Like with rents, the software drives up gas prices; operators sell less gas, but at a higher profit.
https://popular.info/p/gas-stations-are-using-ai-to-inflate?r=2h24&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true
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susan said on June 23, 2026 at 5:28 pm
That’s capitalism. Get what you can, screw everyone else.
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Julie Robinson said on June 23, 2026 at 8:35 pm
This substack showed up in my email. It’s a paramedic evaluating Trump. https://open.substack.com/pub/nicholasjorcutt/p/im-trained-to-know-when-someone-is?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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